Rocky Road To Romance
by badly-knitted
Summary: Dee had never had such a difficult time getting his man. Written for the prompt 'Rocky road' at fic promptly.
**Title:** Rocky Road To Romance

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Dee, Ryo

 **Rating:** PG

 **Setting:** Just after Vol. 7.

 **Summary:** Dee had never had such a difficult time getting his man.

 **Word Count:** 637

 **Written For:** juliet316's prompt 'Author's choice, author's choice, rocky road' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

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Dee had never had any trouble getting the girl, or the guy for that matter. He knew he was good looking and he'd learned early how to turn on the charm. Hell, sometimes he didn't even have to try and people were practically falling over themselves to date him, whether he was interested or not. JJ was a case in point.

Ryo, on the other hand…

Okay, sure, to begin with Dee had just been joking around. His new partner was certainly attractive, but he was so ridiculously uptight. It was kinda fun, making him lose his cool, even making him blush, and Dee had never been averse to stealing a kiss here and there.

But time passed and things changed. Dee's feelings did, anyway, even if Ryo remained completely oblivious. Falling in love with his partner hadn't been on Dee's agenda. For one thing, relationships between partners on the force weren't exactly encouraged. Sometimes though, you just can't help who you love.

Ryo got under his skin just by being himself; kind of an airhead, and often way too busy thinking about other things to see what was happening right under his nose, but a gentle, caring man, someone Dee could rely on. He was always ready and willing to help a friend, and Dee wondered sometimes if he should just give up his dreams of romance and settle for friendship. But that idea was doomed to failure from the start.

Trouble was, Dee was sure that on some level Ryo was interested. There were times when he behaved as if Dee was more than a friend in his eyes, times when he stopped resisting Dee's advances and almost, almost gave in. But then the panic would set in again, Ryo would pull away with that confused, worried expression on his beautiful face, and they'd be back at square one. Dee had no idea how to move things forward when half the time Ryo seemed determined to remain in reverse.

After the school bombings, when Dee had been trapped in a building rigged to explode, Ryo had thrown himself at his partner, clinging to him and kissing him as if Dee was the most important, and the most loved, person in his life. He took care of Dee when he got sick a few months later, and a while after that he'd even come on to Dee after having a really bad day. Much to Dee's surprise, he'd been the one to back off that time. As much as he wanted Ryo, he wasn't about to be used that way. All Ryo had wanted was a distraction, anyone probably would have served, Dee had simply been convenient.

Back and forth, up and down, round and round; it was like some weird dance where the steps kept being changed and all Dee could do was stumble along, trying to keep up. Every time something happened that raised his hopes, they were dashed again before he could blink. There were times he almost grew to hate Ryo.

It had been the proverbial rocky road to romance, but looking back at all he'd been through for this man, Dee could honestly say that it had been worth all the frustration and disappointments, and yes, he would willingly go through it all again for this. The man he loved was asleep in his arms, head on Dee's chest, completely worn out after Dee had shown him just what he'd been missing out on all this time. Despite Ryo's uncanny ability to overlook what was staring him right in the face, Dee was quite certain that at long last there were no more misunderstandings between them. They both knew now exactly where they belonged, and Dee was going to make damn sure that Ryo never had any reason to doubt it.

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The End


End file.
